Maybe Republicans should buy media outlets rather than donate to super-PACs

posted at 11:21 am on December 13, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

What was the secret of Barack Obama’s success in the 2012 election? Traditionally, a President who produces substandard economic growth in a first term doesn’t get a second term; in fact, it’s about the only reason an incumbent President loses, other than offering a pardon to his predecessor. One task in which Team Obama excelled was turning out low-information voters, a deliberate strategy that went all the way to the top. While Barack Obama dodged the White House press for almost all of 2012, he continually appeared in entertainment venues to broaden his appeal and get reluctant voters to come out on Election Day.

Republicans tried to counter this with massive amounts of money from outside groups intended to even out the ad war. They succeeded at that effort, but still lost the election, and ended up looking more marginalized than before. Glenn Reynolds wonders whether that money would have been better spent buying the kind of media outlets that reach the voters Obama courted — especially among single women:

One of the groups with whom Romney did worst was female “low-information voters.” Those are women who don’t really follow politics, and vote based on a vague sense of who’s mean and who’s nice, who’s cool and who’s uncool.

Since, by definition, they don’t pay much attention to political news, they get this sense from what they do read. And for many, that’s traditional women’s magazines — Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, the Ladies Home Journal, etc. — and the newer women’s sites like YourTango, The Frisky, Yahoo! Shine, and the like.

The thing is, those magazines and Web sites see themselves, pretty consciously, as a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. So while nine out of 10 articles may be the usual stuff on sex, diet and shopping, the 10th will always be either soft p.r. for the Democrats or soft — or sometimes not-so-soft — hits on Republicans.

When a flier about getting away with rape was found in a college men’s bathroom, the women’s site YourTango (“Your Best Love Life”) led with the fact that the college was Paul Ryan’s alma materin a transparent effort to advance the Democrats’ War on Women claim that Republicans are somehow pro-rape. A companion article was “12 Hot Older Men Who Endorse President Obama.”

Similar p.r. abounded across the board: Sandra Fluke is a hero; Sarah Palin is a zero. Republicans are all old white men (women or minority Republicans get mocked or ignored).

This kind of thing adds up, especially among low-information voters. They may not know or care much about the specifics, but this theme, repeated over and over again, sends a message: Democrats are cool, and Republicans are uncool — and if you vote for them, you’re uncool, too.

This isn’t a bad idea for the deep-pocketed business leaders who sunk a lot of money in the election — and not just the general election, but the primaries as well. Not only would that help push a more conservative point of view to consumers who are less connected to politics, these media outlets make money, too, which conservatives don’t mind when choosing investments. At the very least, we can be sure that this won’t hurt, and it at least addresses the dynamic seen in the last election.

In general, Glenn’s argument goes along with a point Andrew Breitbart used to emphasize, which is that culture informs politics, and not the other way around. Conservatives have to engage in the cultural as well as political sphere, even though the entertainment culture — which is the dominant culture in America these days — is tilted against conservative values and principles. Perhaps conservatives have to engage especially because of that tilt. And it would help to have some footholds in that arena when attempting to engage there.

I’ve been saying this all along…They need to buy media outlets…The largest democratic fundraiser/lobbyist in California is trying to build a resort in Wine Country with lots of local pushback to the project. So what does he do?? He buys all the local newspapers…TO CONTROL the MESSAGE!

It’s funny you should mention this, because I have been wondering if there EXISTS a women’s fashion magazine that doesn’t have the usual left-wing crap in the “serious” articles. Sometimes, it’s nice to read a magazine with fluff pieces, but I cannot support any of the women’s rags out there, because they’re always shilling for the left. Michelle Obama on the cover of Vogue? Seriously? She’s ugly. Ah, but Anna Wintour wants that ambassadorship. Rolling Stone puts the big Zero on the cover, and writes articles about how the evil Republicans are secretly plotting to [kill your grandma/steal your money/ take away your medicare/fill in the blank]. I hope someone takes you up on this offer, because I would love to be able to read a “fun” magazine without getting ticked off.

If Republicans were to buy what are now liberal media outlets, we might be able to get a few months to get the message out before the liberals began to buy more media outlets and use those to demonize and marginalize the ones that were bought.

Then, just as with Fox News and the Democrat debates during the 2008 election, they would demand that no Democrats appear in or on that media outlet, and we would probably end up with the status quo.

YES! I’ve been saying this for months. Instead of pouring millions down the drain with ads to boost a specific candidate, invest in the media infrastructure that will benefit us long-term and in all campaigns.

This includes buying select media outlets and subtly re-orienting them politically, as well as political issue ads to inform voters about current affairs from a conservative perspective. Like those Bill Whittle videos, but in 30 seconds or 1 minute. Not aggressive with doomsday music, but friendly, accessible, informative and above all intriguing for anyone who has never heard anything beyond worthless, generic, Republican talking points about candidate X or issue Y.

In fact, why not set up a dedicated initiative that will allow grass roots conservatives to a) donate funds to such ads and b) vote on proposed ads and topics so we have a say in how this is implemented and feel some ownership.

We used to be able to win elections by throwing out high-level conservative talking points and pointing to candidates that (seemed to) embrace them. That seems to be over. For conservatism to win, the masses need to understand it, and we need to be the educators.

Conservatives have to engage in the cultural as well as political sphere, even though the entertainment culture — which is the dominant culture in America these days — is tilted against conservative values and principles.

There’s nothing conservative about capitalism. Capitalism is a liberalising, even radicalising, force.

We got to this sorry state because the communists infiltrated and then took over the media. We can do the same thing, you know. We should simply take back what the communists stole, based on their 45 goals for the takeover of the USA:

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

We can undo this damage by spending our money and energy infiltrating and taking over the institutions they took away from us.

“Low-information voters” is just a nice way to say ‘nitwits who don’t pay attention’. But yeah… we need to challenge the left’s control of the media. We need to challenge their control of our educational system as well. And most of all, we need to challenge them for control of our state and local governments. It’s MUCH harder for socialist Democrats to do the whole “top-down” thing.. when there’s push-back from the states.

This isn’t a bad idea for the deep-pocketed business leaders who sunk a lot of money in the election

Everything in pop media is a huge circle jerk of liberals and their business model totally depends on constant referrals back and forth to build interest in whatever meme they are pushing as without it no one would ever care. Any conservative buying an established liberal media outlet will be instantly shut out of the circle. This also makes any new start up by conservatives very costly as they don’t get the friendly hand that new liberal start ups do. Politico is a perfect example of this. You will see new liberal start ups quoted and referred to by major liberal media players from almost day one. It would never happen with Conservatives.

Conservatives should do this, even buy existing media outlets, but it should be with the sure knowledge that these will require massive advertizing budgets to gain influence and will never make the same profit as there liberal counterparts who get it free.

Good idea. It’d be much easier to buy Cosmo, say, than to reclaim a majority of colleges or public schools.

And you wouldn’t even really have to fill the publications with conservative content. Just let them write on the same topics as now, but have the stories edited from a conservative viewpoint. Even eliminating the liberal bias would provide us a boost, much less actually promoting conservative ideas.

It’s a begining, but there’s still SNL, Letterman, and TV taboid douchebaggery that will still need to be dealt with, not to mention the alphabet evening news casts. The TV media is the big kahuna that’ll be hardest to tackle.

And most of all, we need to challenge them for control of our state and local governments. It’s MUCH harder for socialist Democrats to do the whole “top-down” thing.. when there’s push-back from the states.

Murf76 on December 13, 2012 at 11:39 AM

We’re doing a lot better on the state and local front, and I wonder if that’s because “big media” doesn’t really address those issues and candidates. The meme that national Republicans are out to steal your uterus doesn’t seem to get as much play in state/local races.

I imagine folks on the left are working to do a better job of smearing our candidates in those elections, though. They see the benefit we’re reaping from having GOP control at the state level.

So much easier than beginning now and putting out the real positions when it comes to the gals instead of playing defense after the enemy claims the GOP wants to ban all abortions and jack up the price of birth control for sluts like Sandra Fluke!

At the very least the GOP should escalate the war with the media instead of letting George Stephanopolous and Candy Crowley walk all over them and act like a scared puppy. What more could the media do to Republicans that it isn’t already doing?

It’s a begining, but there’s still SNL, Letterman, and TV taboid douchebaggery that will still need to be dealt with, not to mention the alphabet evening news casts. The TV media is the big kahuna that’ll be hardest to tackle.

Red Creek on December 13, 2012 at 11:42 AM

That’s true, but stories in women’s magazines often make it into big media. Writers will always be lazy – and if we give them more conservative viewpoints to pull from, there’s a better chance our stuff will get aired.

Well they can start by buying Time. Not surprising, (considering the election of Obama) Time pollsters just voted Kim Jong Un person of the year.

Can’t even imagine what these people are thinking to give that unruly defiant slave master any recognition at all.

But then again…

plutorocks on December 13, 2012 at 11:39 AM

Maybe conservatives should also start learning about how the Internet and online polls work:

However, some of the highest vote tallies got a boost from members of Internet forums like 4Chan who launched a campaign to manipulate the results pushing North Korea’s supreme leader to the top of the list.

Specially since this has been happening for a few years now. Also Time person of the year is not indicative of the qualities of person in question. It’s a matter of who made the news. Hitler and Stalin, the latter twice as well as Gandhi and FDR (twice) have made the list. This second misconception is bipartisan.

YES, this is what I’ve been saying. Trump, Adelson, Koch, etc, they should get into media, all forms. rather than donating only to candidates. the media is primarily where the battle for hearts and minds is being lost day in and day out. also in education, which is another place to invest.

I’d call it unindoctrination. We wouldn’t have to spin things, simply by removing the liberal bias, we’d gain an advantage, and present a more balanced picture of the world to readers.

Glamour wouldn’t sell if it was filled with articles on the debt crises. But if we removed the editorial bias to fill stories with liberal stereotypes, myths, and pseudosience, conservatives would benefit.

YES, this is what I’ve been saying. Trump, Adelson, Koch, etc, they should get into media, all forms. rather than donating only to candidates. the media is primarily where the battle for hearts and minds is being lost day in and day out. also in education, which is another place to invest.

exceller on December 13, 2012 at 11:49 AM

One more point. If we owned a network, then when we start buying ads, we’d be keeping that money in conservative hands.

Glamour wouldn’t sell if it was filled with articles on the debt crises. But if we removed the editorial bias to fill stories with liberal stereotypes, myths, and pseudosience, conservatives would benefit.

Ike warned about the “military-industrial complex” back in the 50’s. Nowadays, the democratic-media complex is extraordinarily powerful. The mix of politicians, news outlets, television, movies, and music pretty much covers all aspects of our culture and the message is overwhelmingly democratic and liberal/progressive.

It’s not the truth. There is no “truth” anymore in global capitalist culture. Just what sells and what doesn’t. And Republicans aren’t hip or cool enough and never will be.

lostmotherland on December 13, 2012 at 11:46 AM

You’re wrong. Here are but a few examples:

Marxism doesn’t work. That’s the truth. History demonstrates that. It has failed everywhere it has been tried. But the Marxists spread the lie that it does work.

Marxists also say capitalism doesn’t work, and that capitalism is the cause for all our current woes. That’s a lie.

The Marxists say Keynesian economics works. They say food stamps stimulate the economy such that every $1 spent in food stamps results in $4 (or whatever) stimulus. It’s a lie easily exposed if we had a media willing to expose it.

The Free Market, in principle, does work. That’s the truth. Human nature corrupts the Free Market, so it must be managed to a degree. That’s also the truth.

And so on… there are countless lies being told now, and if conservatives took over the media, we could tell countless truths and expose the lies.

TIME and Newsweek make occasional headlines, but low information voters don’t read them.

People, US, Cosmopolitan, and similar mags, on the other hand, are a regular part of millions of Americans’ lives. And they’re all constantly applying leftward pressure on people’s views on a wide range of topics.

This is what I have been thinking. Why not take over at least one major network: ABC or CBS or even CNN. Where are all of the wealthy conservatives? Taking over the women’s magazines is a good start; how about African American and Hispanic media?

This is what I have been thinking. Why not take over at least one major network: ABC or CBS or even CNN. Where are all of the wealthy conservatives? Taking over the women’s magazines is a good start; how about African American and Hispanic media?

Puma for Life on December 13, 2012 at 11:59 AM

If you took over ABC, you’d also be taking over ESPN and Disney. It wouldn’t be cheap, but it would be huge.

Also Time person of the year is not indicative of the qualities of person in question. It’s a matter of who made the news. Hitler and Stalin, the latter twice as well as Gandhi and FDR (twice) have made the list. This second misconception is bipartisan.

lester on December 13, 2012 at 11:48 AM

Oh I know how the polls work and it includes good or bad behavior but I don’t like rewarding it. Kind of fuels the fire, the more headlines the more recognition.

Semantics. Let’s face it, today everything is political: food, health, cars, homes, weather. I wish it wasn’t, but the left has operated this way for decades while we have pretended the effects of their activism would never move beyond the fringes. Are we going to keep pretending we can ignore the politics of all these issues, or are we going to fight back with our own politics?

Basically, there was a time when the culture was conservative. Because it was, we assumed it would stay that way and let down our guard, rarely politicizing things because there didn’t seem to be much of a point when things were already the way we liked them. Meanwhile, the left has continually politicized everything, first from the fringes, now in the mainstream, to the point where I can barely think of anything that doesn’t have political angles to it.

Today the culture is no longer conservative. If we want traditional family, freedom, religion, family, responsible spending, american pride and exceptionalism, we need to make the case for them just as aggressively and pervasively as the Left has for its ideas for decades. And yes, one of the most effective means of doing this is using non-explicitly political media injected with a relatively subtle conservative slant. If that’s “indoctrination,” so be it.

Sounds like a good plan. Conservative women love fashion, too. I would have loved to have a fashion mag that wasn’t filled with stupid stuff that ticked me off. Stopped buying them a long, long time ago for that reason. Actually all one would have to do is to just do fashion stuff. Leave the political stuff out. I really hate Michelle’s fashion sense, but you know any fashion mag would be compelled to do it.

However, the ‘fair and balanced’ junk from Fox is turning me off. I can’t stand Hannity anymore with his long ‘fights for the night’. I don’t care about Commies anymore. I prefer not to hear from them or about them. I already know the damage they are doing and I really don’t appreciate the compare and contrast that Fox seems to love. All Conservative, all the time is just about right for me, but no one has the courage to do it. No one, except for Glenn. From the little I’ve seen of his network, I like it.

People, US, Cosmopolitan, and similar mags, on the other hand, are a regular part of millions of Americans’ lives. And they’re all constantly applying leftward pressure on people’s views on a wide range of topics.

It’s not the truth. There is no “truth” anymore in global capitalist culture. Just what sells and what doesn’t. And Republicans aren’t hip or cool enough and never will be.

lostmotherland on December 13, 2012 at 11:46 AM

Spoken like someone who’s been indoctrinated. Who decides if Republicans are hip or cool? SNL, People Magazine, Daytime talk shows.

Mitch Daniels rides a motorcycle. Who’s to say Marco Rubio isn’t cool? Democrats do a great job of smearing anyone who makes it onto the national stage. Ever notice how an Ivy League education can’t inoculate Republicans from being portrayed as stupid? George Bush was branded an idiot, despite being smart by any objective measure.

Who decides if Republicans are hip or cool? SNL, People Magazine, Daytime talk shows.

The problem with you lot is that you think everything is a conspiracy. Do you think the CEO’s and editorial boards of all these magazines sit around and decide which right wing politician they’re going to smear this week? Do you think that’s how culture works? Well, it doesn’t. Hip sells. Cool sells. Business loves ‘hip’ and ‘cool,’ because hip and cool make profits. The GOIP brand is “unhip” and “uncool.” No “one” decided this. It’s the cultural consensus. Daniels is an exception to a general rule. Hip and cool belong elsewhere on the cultural map than with conservatives.

The dems own the bottom feeding magazines, so we should…and we should put our money into “owning” school boards, so we can control education…ground up baby, trickle down is great for money, but for power and control it’s the artesian well theory.

Glenn Reynolds wonders whether that money would have been better spent buying the kind of media outlets that reach the voters Obama courted — especially among single women:

..exactly.

We already know that the press is over the top bias for the democratic party…we know that liberals control over 90% of the press/MSM and entertainment industry.They have such control they don’t even try to hide their agenda now.Play down,ignore,or spin anything that harms the democratic party while at the same time 24/7,wall to wall coverage of anything that hurts Conservatives…whether true or made up by left wing activist.
Pointing all of this out is fruitless now…it is known and they are using their information leverage with little regard to all the yelling and screaming we do about their bias.

The best way to combat this is to buy up these outlets…..NBC could have been bought up years ago….many papers and magazines are in the same boat.
As Conservatives….we have to accept the fact that many people will not inform themselves of the issues and will take the repetitive talking points issued by the democratic party….no matter how stupid and untrue….as fact.

This will continue and we will be marginalized to “I know the dems are courrpt and full of sh!t…but at least they’re better than those Nazi Repubs” status that we see in California and New York.

Gaining ground on the information front is key to any chance of Conservatives being able to remain a strong force in the direction of this country.

Today the culture is no longer conservative. If we want traditional family, freedom, religion, family, responsible spending, american pride and exceptionalism, we need to make the case for them just as aggressively and pervasively as the Left has for its ideas for decades. And yes, one of the most effective means of doing this is using non-explicitly political media injected with a relatively subtle conservative slant. If that’s “indoctrination,” so be it.

nknet on December 13, 2012 at 12:02 PM

Well said. I think one conservative failing is that we’ve decided that politics was the only sphere in which we would fight. It was lazy and cowardly of us to try to have our politicians do everything for us. And I think it hurts the conservative brand, because conservatives end up calling for the expansion of government into the social arena.

We should fight to make people NOT WANT abortions, instead of waiting for the government and politicians to make them illegal. If you believe homosexuality is wrong, then fight for that – but don’t expect your Congressman to do the fighting for you. I know there are folks on here who are working in those arenas, but a lot of folks want to do all of their fighting in the voting booth. And it takes more than that.

No, we need a right leaning The Daily Show, Friends or Lost. We need something that will entertain lots of people on a weekly or even daily basis that leans ever so subtly to the right. Something with excellent writing and acting but gently introduces conservative ideas to the audience through their investment in the show. I mean don’t have a TV Show about a guy that works at a gun store that rants about gun control every episode. Have a big reveal where the relate-able character suddenly pull out his/her (licensed) concealed sidearm for his/her defense halfway through the season. Have a character lose a month’s wages from a union strike or have a government official take the character’s home with eminent domain so it can be knocked down and the land sold cheaply to a land developer. Make it good, make it subtle and it will influence the whole country more than a dozen magazines.

Print media is dead. The e-reader is the formal forum for speech and social media is the marketplace. Reynolds idea(s) are well off the pace at which trends run.

Unless the printed mag is held by the company that has the website you’re after, it’s a foolish investment. As an example, The Daily Beast, for the last five or six years, has had far more influence than Newsweek … which has folded. And the Daily Beast generally presents essays that are little more than the percolated amalgam collected from FB to Twitter to Pinterest.

It’s not the truth. There is no “truth” anymore in global capitalist culture. Just what sells and what doesn’t. And Republicans aren’t hip or cool enough and never will be.

lostmotherland on December 13, 2012 at 11:46 AM

You may think that’s true, but you would probably be surprised to know how many younger people look at what you think is cool and call it disgusting. My daughter would call your use of the words “hip” and “cool” a sure sign that you are old and stupid. Sooner or later people notice that those Polar bears are not extinct.

My view of global capitalism happens to be the correct one. Global capitalism doesn’t give a sh+t about your values. that sounds harsh I know, and I apologize if I offend (you seem like a nice lady). But it’s the cold hard truth.

The best way to combat this is to buy up these outlets…..NBC could have been bought up years ago….many papers and magazines are in the same boat.

Baxter Greene on December 13, 2012 at 12:12 PM

In fact, Warren Buffett just bought a whole bunch of newspapers. He says he’s not going to influence their content, but clearly those papers know Buffett’s position on taxes, and may that consider on some level when writing stories.

The problem with buying entertainment media outlets such as Cosmo is that they will instantly become nonprofitable. These outlets are about selling sex, or a hope to get laid in that or another form. No conservative message can compete with that. The subscribers will migrate to whatever liberal outlets remain, and so will the best staff. The result will be a lot of money spent on a dying glossy, and an improvement in quality of competing magazines.